READIN

Sunday, April 9th, 2006

🦋 Singing and fiddling

Singing while I play is really coming naturally -- besides "John Hardy was a Desperate Man" I've now got a pretty good version of "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning", and this afternoon I played (on the spur of the moment) "Since I Laid My Burden Down". This is almost exactly the same melody as "Will the Circle Be Unbroken", which I have tried without much success to sing while playing.

Tonight I played the open mike jam at the regrettably named "Here's to the Arts" in Maplewood. It was just me and the owner of the bar playing electric guitar, and the audience was Ellen and Sylvia and the owner's wife; but we had some fun. We played "John Hardy" and "Trimmed and Burning", and a jazz tune that I had not heard before. I turn out to be able to sing into a mic while playing, which is a relief, and to jam to an easy but unfamiliar tune, which I already sort of knew but is always nice to get confirmed.

posted evening of April 9th, 2006: Respond
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Today, a lovely day, is the occasion for our first family bike ride (longer than around the block) of the season. We are riding to Michele's house in Maplewood for Sylvia's play group and back, a total of about 5 miles.

Update: The ride was a success -- this is the furthest Sylvia has ever ridden by a multiple of 2 or so, she did a lot of coasting but gave me a hand on the uphills (which I could not have managed without her pedalling) and some of the straightaways (I could definitely feel the reduction in effort when she started pedalling). Her play group friends were interested in the tandem trailer and a big occasion was made of us mounting and riding away -- Ella got a similar trailer recently but so far has been scared to actually get on it, so she was particularly interested.

posted afternoon of April 9th, 2006: Respond

Saturday, April 8th, 2006

🦋 Chinese cello

We went to Seton Hall tonight to watch Wang Guowei play erhu, which is the Chinese instrument that looks vaguely like a cello. (Well very vaguely -- here is a picture.) It was just lovely; I was sorry to have to leave at the intermission because of it being past Sylvia's bedtime.

posted evening of April 8th, 2006: Respond

Friday, April 7th, 2006

Guns, Germs and Steel serves as a really good prophylactic against romantic nostalgia -- the evolution of society depicted in the "Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy" chapter does not at all make you want to go back to the days of egalitarianism.

posted morning of April 7th, 2006: Respond
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🦋 Song nostalgia

An idea for a meme! I have never started such a thing before but now I am going to try it out.

Here's the idea: list 4 songs (by different artists please) that meet the following criteria: (a) You have not listened to the song in a long time. I'm thinking like 2 years minimum but adjust this limit at your discretion. (b) You can hear the song in your head, just by closing your eyes and willing it. (Well you know what I mean; it's debatable how strongly "will" enters into this activity.) (c) You would gladly listen to it right now. Optionally, write a little squib about the song, why you like it, why you have not listened to it, where you know it from, etc. Here are my four:

• "Clean Steve" by Robyn Hitchcock: This is the song that came into my mind this morning and inspired this whole thing. I love, love the song but have never owned it, last time I listened to it must be home from college sometime hanging around with my friend Jer Egenberger who is the big Hitchcock afficionado and was my conduit to Hitchcocky goodness.
• "Hurricane" by Dylan: I like the "Desire" album a lot but when I go to listen to Dylan, that never seems to be what I put on the record player.
• "No Xmas for John Quays" by The Fall: "Live at the Witch Trials" was one of the first punk rock albums I ever owned and I think one of the finest. Don't listen to that music too much anymore.
• "Here I Go" by Syd Barrett: Barrett is another artist that Jer Egenberger introduced me to. This is a pretty song and the only Barrett tune that I know on guitar. (For some values of "know": I haven't played it in ages but could pick it out again pretty quickly I think.) (Aha: Here are the chords, which I worked out 2½ years ago.)

I want to forward this meme to: music snob extraordinaire Amanda Marcotte; Becks, who is learning to play guitar; Ben Wolfson, who has some interesting ideas about music; and monster of rock Roy Edroso, who is on a bit of a hiatus right now but will hopefully be back soon. Also I'd like to know NickS's picks, so maybe Becks or somebody will start a thread about it on Unfogged.

If you participate (is this the correct verb?) in this meme, let me know and I will link to your stuff. Update: Here are responses to this meme:

• Ben Wolfson: A complicated musical request

posted morning of April 7th, 2006: Respond
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Thursday, April 6th, 2006

🦋 Fiddle Practice

Tonight for the first time I felt myself starting to get comfortable in the second and third positions. All along I have been trying to work them in to my playing without any real luck. On Tuesday, Bill and Aaron were saying how they'd really like to hear the high notes and advising me to practice scales up the neck -- aagh! my bane! repetitive practice! -- so I set out to try it.

Last night I was playing the scales but without any real clue what I was doing. But tonight I changed my strategy a little. First, I decided only to work on the key of G for now, since the songs I've been playing with Bill and Aaron are primarily in G. And second, I decided not to worry about the bottom string since I was having a lot of trouble there.

I started playing some scales, sounding a little better than last night; and after a little while I moved into playing melodies and solos -- mostly in third position. Still having to hunt for notes a bit and sometimes drifting away from the proper position. I'm trying to figure out how to move between positions now.

posted evening of April 6th, 2006: Respond
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I had dinner last night with Unfogged commenter Idealist (whom I am planning to start calling IdeaList) -- we went to La Espiga. He is also from the Central Velley, grew up in Davis, and has been missing good Mexican food since he moved to NY. La Espiga did not disappoint. The menu is limited on weekdays, e.g. they did not have chiles rellenos, which IdeaList had been hoping for; but the dishes they did have were great. I had chivito en adobo, which I was a little surprised to see on the menu -- I had thought of it as more an Ecuadorean or Columbian dish -- and of course a couple of tacos. (Best taco filling available on weekdays is carnitas IMO; best on the full menu are barbacoa and lengua.) Update: Jim says chivito in adobo is Mexican. My mistake.

posted morning of April 6th, 2006: Respond

Tuesday, April 4th, 2006

I was jamming again tonight with 13 Scotland Rd, and got a lot of good stuff on tape. Where last time I felt pretty up-in-the-air about whether I was playing with or against Bill, tonight I was starting to click and hear what I was doing right or wrong. Bill was also teaching me the songs in a way he was not doing last week, which was really helpful. Between Bill and Lisa Gutkin I feel like I have really happened on two ideal music teachers. We played:

• "Dream", which we had finished out the evening with last week, with me playing a really pretty intro. Had a hard time getting back there, but after a couple of times through I broke through and started getting it.
• "Used to be" -- just blew me away, a beautiful song. Aaron taught me an intro that I picked up fairly quickly. On the solo I'm having a hard time really going into it aggressively without also being sloppy.
• "If You Were Mine", which I've been practicing most of this week.
• "Always", which is really difficult for me to hear the key of.

posted evening of April 4th, 2006: Respond

Sunday, April second, 2006

Pointed out by someone in my department: for a moment on Wednesday morning, it will be 01:02:03 04/05/06 for the first time since 1906, and for the last time until 2106.

posted afternoon of April second, 2006: Respond

Saturday, April first, 2006

🦋 Inside Man

I just got back from watching Inside Man with Ellen. (Sylvia is away at her first sleep-over! Yay!) It was a good movie -- I thought so anyways, Ellen was not as happy with it. Which is funny in a way, because I went there prepared not to like it and Ellen was predisposed to enjoy it, I think -- it was her choice of movie, and she likes Spike -- whereas I have never (before tonight) watched a Spike Lee joint that I enjoyed without reservation.

I think the crux of our difference in opinion, was the plausibility of the story. Neither of us found the plot to be very believable; for Ellen this interfered with her focussing on the movie, but not for me. I was able just to open up and let the movie pour into me unfiltered, and I loved it. Will it stay with me? Not sure. But it was an excellent movie viewing experience.

posted afternoon of April first, 2006: Respond
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